Hundreds of dolphins and sea lions have washed up dead or sick in California amid toxic algae outbreak

[Treyfish]

Hundreds of dolphins and sea lions have washed up dead or sick in California amid toxic algae outbreak


By Rachel Ramirez, CNN
Published 5:18 PM EDT, Thu June 22, 2023​

​​​​​​The scene is unsettling: hundreds of sea lions and dolphins are sprawled across the beaches in Southern California, either dead or sick and exhibiting abnormal behavior.

:magnify: Officials have received more than 1,000 calls in recent weeks from beachgoers, tourists and residents reporting sick, dying and dead sea mammals washed ashore from Santa Barbara to San Diego County, amid a growing toxic algal bloom in the waters off the coast.

The wave of dead or sick animals is “one of the largest in memory,” Justin Greenman, a stranding coordinator with NOAA Fisheries, told CNN. “It’s completely overwhelming.”

And, Greenman said, it doesn’t appear to be ending any time soon.

Marine-life experts believe the harmful algal bloom is to blame, though they are waiting on test results to confirm it. The algae, Pseudo-nitzschia, produces a neurotoxin called domoic acid, which can be poisonous to seabirds and fish once ingested. It can then travel across the food chain to larger marine animals like dolphins, sea lions and even humans.....



...The death toll for dolphins is now up to 100, the group said, which Greenman describes as unusual – particularly in how this bloom appears to be affecting species that typically dwell far from the shore.

“It’s like the waves of a tsunami keep washing over our local beaches with even more sea lions and dolphins suffering from domoic acid,” Dover told CNN. “We thought last year’s domoic acid event affecting Santa Barbara and Ventura was tragic, but this year’s event is even more horrific.”

“Our beautiful beaches are littered with sick, dying and deceased sea lions and dolphins,” she said.

​Tissue samples have been taken for testing to confirm that the domoic acid-producing algae is behind the crisis. But Michael Milstein a spokesperson for NOAA Fisheries, told CNN that the situation has “all the hallmarks of an algal bloom.”.....:tiphat:https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/22/us/t...rm=link&utm_content=2023-06-23T00:00:12​​​​​​

 

[Treyfish]

Hundreds of Sea Lions Are Dying. Is an Algal Bloom to Blame?


Rescuers have been inundated with calls about sick and dying sea lions and dolphins along California’s central coast. They believe the cause is a toxin produced by a harmful algae.
By Livia Albeck-Ripka

Reporting from Los Angeles

June 21, 2023
The calls came in, one after the other, with reports of sea lions swaying their heads back and forth, foaming at the mouth, or slumped, lifeless on the beach. Rescuers along the central California coast struggled to keep up as they captured the sick animals in the hopes of saving them. Already, hundreds of sea lions and dozens of dolphins had died.

The marine mammals — considered “sentinel” species because of what they tell humans about the health of the ocean — are believed to be falling sick from a scourge of harmful algae that occur naturally but can be made worse by human activity.

The algae, Pseudo-nitzschia, produces a neurotoxin called domoic acid, which makes its way up the food chain from anchovies to sea lions and dolphins, causing lethargy, disorientation, vomiting, bulging eyes, muscle spasms, seizures and, in severe cases, death. The animals are appearing, sick and beached, along the shoreline from Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo County.

Rescuers say it is among the worst mass poisoning events they’ve ever seen. And it’s only June.

“It’s been really sad,” said Michelle Berman Kowalewski, a biologist and the director of the Channel Islands Cetacean Research Unit, a nonprofit that has been responding to the beached dolphins. Algal blooms are not uncommon, but Ms. Berman Kowalewski said that, even in a bad year, she might respond to 30 to 40 poisoned dolphins. “This year, we have been averaging about 10 animals a day for 10 days,” she said......:tiphat:https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/21/us/algae-bloom-california-sea-lion-dolphin.html